Open government is a doctrine which holds that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its ideal form, open government promotes transparency, accountability, and public participation. Transparency, in particular, is crucial as it reduces corruption, enhances public trust, and ensures that members of the public are better informed as they participate in the democratic process.
Unfortunately, despite these ideals, there is a concerning but pronounced trend towards decreased governmental transparency. An analysis of 37,000 records requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has found a marked decrease in how often these requests are successfully fulfilled. In 2010, over half of FOIA requests yielded the desired records. By 2020, it was just 10%. Worse, out of the requests that did produce at least some records, only 17% produce full records. In other words, only around 1.7% of all FOIA records requests successfully produce full release of all applicable records and information.
Increasing government secrecy does play some role here, but there’s another, even more common culprit: records management lapses.
The Logistical Challenges of Record-Keeping
The decline in open government effectiveness can be attributed to several logistical issues. First, the sheer volume of governmental records has exploded. The number of electronic records created by federal agencies has grown exponentially with the advancement of technology.
At the same time, the number of FOIA requests has also surged. In fiscal year 2022, the federal government received approximately 928,353 FOIA requests, which was an 11% increase from the previous year. This trend continued into fiscal year 2023, where over 1.1 million requests were received, marking a nearly 30% increase from 2022. It’s also important to note that FOIA requests can be complicated to answer, involving vast amounts of data or requiring information from multiple departments or agencies. Coordinating these requests and ensuring comprehensive responses can pose an immense logistical challenge.
These twin increases have led to significant backlogs at federal agencies. “We looked back over the last decade looking at data from 2013 up through 2022, and we found that backlogs government wide have nearly doubled to a little bit over 200,000 at the end of fiscal year 2022,” Jay McTigue, the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Director of Strategic Issues, told the Federal News Network. “This reflects a long-term trend, a persistent challenge for federal agencies.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing transition from traditional paper-based record-keeping to electronic records management (ERM) systems has introduced its own set of challenges. With the transition still in process at most agencies, many older records remain in formats that are difficult to access or make available upon request. Then, not all ERMs are made equal. Some are far more successful than others at facilitating record storage, access, and retrieval; inadequate technology infrastructure can hinder the ability to search and retrieve records efficiently.
So, what can government agencies and institutions do to counter the logistical challenges associated with producing records and meeting open government ideals? In our next article in this series, we’ll look at the practical action steps agencies can take to overcome the problems associated with records retrieval.
About PSL
PSL is a global outsource provider whose mission is to provide solutions that facilitate the movement of business-critical information between and among government agencies, business enterprises, and their partners. For more information, please visit or email info@penielsolutions.com.